When you’re not out with your family and friends, the food can provide that much-needed taste of home.
When Kat Ajomale and her boyfriend traveled through Peru, what they missed most was the humble flatbread.
“During long walks through Peru with people from all over the world, the conversation revolved around food that we all missed from home,” says Kat.
“Crumpets were very popular with the British and it was fun to describe them to anyone else who had never heard of them.
Katrina Ajomale cake
– Credit: Crumpetorium
“After that, my friend and I started dreaming about how to make crumpets, thinking that trying to add some jazzy flavors to them could be a really great twist on a British classic.”
You may also want to see:
When they arrived in the UK unemployed and struck by the effects of the pandemic, they thought why not try to make this daydream a reality.
And in April 2020, the Crumpetorium was launched from her Norwich kitchen.
Cheese pancakes from Crumpetorium
– Credit: Crumpetorium
“While my friend was soon back to work, I had the crumpet bug and wanted to see how far this venture could go.”
Kat, 31, is originally from Brighton and has always enjoyed baking.
“I love that I still use my mom’s old Kenwood blender, which is older than me but still strong as it reminds me to make cakes with her as a kid,” she says.
They scoured the internet for crumpet recipes and quickly found that, like any Great British Bake Off candidate they faced in the technical challenge, they are surprisingly difficult to perfect.
As a mixture of muffin and pancake, flatbreads have to have a spongy texture – and of course the typical bubbles in which the butter can melt when the flatbreads appear in the toaster.
“They’re fiddly and time consuming to make,” says Kat. “The recipes seem simple at first, but there are definitely tricks you can use to get these bubbles right.
Ginger chocolate crumpets from Crumpetorium
– Credit: Crumpetorium
“So it took a while to decide which recipes work and taste best and I wanted to try to make the base mix vegan too, just to keep the range as comprehensive as possible.”
Once the recipe was perfected, came the fun part of experimenting with flavors.
“We had a couple of tastes that we thought could be served hot from the toaster with melted butter – you can’t go wrong with cheese and chocolate,” says Kat.
“So we started playing with amounts, ingredients, etc., figuring out how the flavors reacted to the yeast, etc.
“The development process for each new flavor is quite time consuming as it takes a long time to prove the doughs, but a lot of tweaks later and we finally had a range that we were happy with.”
Crumpets are a traditional breakfast or roasted tea time
– Credit: Crumpetorium
The regular flavors are Original, Cheese, Ginger, Chocolate Chips, and Chocolate Orange, and then Kat makes some limited edition flavors all year round – she’s made Hot Cross Crumpets for Easter and Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta for Summer, and is now starting the Working on their Christmas Crumpet Flavors.
“The flatbreads contain no additional preservatives, which means that the delicious flavors shine through and their shelf life is shorter than that of supermarket flatbreads, but I think that’s a small price to pay for this extra tasty taste,” says Kat.
“The packaging is sustainable and the flatbreads are a great and somewhat unusual gift that can be sent across the UK.”
Kat’s background is in graphic / website design and marketing.
“I never thought I’d make baking a job, but I always knew I would like a job that was a good mix of hands-on work and computer work, so that’s perfect!”
Crumpetorium crumpets are available from a number of local vendors including Blofield Farm Shop, Paddock Farm Shop in Mulbarton, Yare Valley Farm Shop in Surlingham, Barford Beef and Lamb, Eaton Post Office and the Norfolk Cheese Company at Downham Market.
A brunch board with crumpetorium crumpets
– Credit: Crumpetorium
They are also on the menu at Connaught Kitchen and Bar Hawthorn in Norwich and are available online at crumpetorium.com, lovejamii.com and jarrold.co.uk, as well as Panzers Deli in London and Cobbles and Clay in Yorkshire.
Comments are closed.